EAST LANSING, Mich. - American thought and language professor Nancy Bunge, has been awarded a Fulbright grant, her second such fellowship, to teach American literature at the Free University of Brussels and the University of Ghent in Belgium.
Bunge, who has been at MSU since 1973, has primarily taught American thought and language classes, "The Evolution of America," Myths and Dreams" and "The Creative Process."
In addition to the recent senior Fulbright lecturer award, Bunge also has been the recipient of another senior Fulbright lectureship in American literature and culture at the University of Vienna (1986-87). She was also awarded MSU's Teacher-Scholar Award in 1978 and was invited by the Woodrow Wilson Foundation to attend a two-week workshop on interdisciplinary teaching at Princeton University in 1984.
"The year I spent teaching at the University of Vienna was invaluable in helping me understand what is distinctively American about myself and my culture," Bunge said. "The exposure to another way of life also opened new possibilities in many, many areas.
"I expect teaching in Belgium to generate at least as many revelations since my knowledge of French will make it possible for me to learn from the media and the literature as well as from my students and colleagues. This award is very important to me because I expect to learn an incredible amount that will enrich my classes, my research and the way I live my daily life."
Bunge's research reflects a history of teaching American thought and language in that she publishes both the literary analysis and interviews with writers about how they work and teach.
Bunge has contributed to over 50 books and periodical pieces. She was the interviewer and editor of "Finding the Words: Conversations with Writers Who Teach," that includes talks with Wallace Stegner, Richard Wilbur, Scott Momady, Diane Wakoski and Allan Ginsberg about how they teach writing.
Bunge is also the author of "Nathaniel Hawthorne: A Study of the Short Fiction." She has had her work published in The Washington Post, San Francisco Review of Books, The American Poetry Review, Milkweed Chronicle, The Walt Whitman Review, Studies in Short Fiction, and the Nathaniel Hawthorne Journal.
Bunge is one of approximately 2,000 U.S. grantees who will travel abroad for the 1999/2000 academic year through the Fulbright Program. Established in 1946 under congressional legislation introduced by the late Senator J. William Fulbright of Arkansas, the program is designed "to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries."
Fulbright alumni include Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winners, governors and senators, ambassadors and artists, prime ministers and heads of state, professors and scientists, Supreme Court justices and CEOs.